Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion [Paperback]

Paul Marshall (Author), Lela Gilbert (Author), Roberta Green-Ahmanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2008

Why do the media so often miss or misunderstand major news stories? One reason is that, in today's complex and pervasively religious world, understanding religion is vital in accurately reporting and interpreting current events. The authors of Blind Spot argue that all too frequently journalists and commentators do not take religion seriously and therefore fail to grasp the religious context of the news.

Blind Spot's essays examine news stories reported by major media sources in which key religious dimensions were ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented. These stories range from the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, to Iran, Iraq, and the papal succession. Blind Spot offers all readers -- whether people of faith or not -- an interesting and balanced analysis of the news media's uneasy relationship with religion and religious issues.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's not often that I let out a whoop of joy when I read a book, but I did while reading Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion. I've been preaching this gospel for 15 years and it's great to see it so brilliantly argued and supported in these pages. The editors have assembled a top-flight team of scholars and writers to build the case brick by solid brick. It is now an unassailable truth: without an understanding of religion, a journalist can miss the greatest stories of our time. This is the book I -- and my students -- have been waiting for." --Professor Ari Goldman, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of The Search for God at Harvard

"Since press blindness is one reason for the declining circulations of standard newspapers and newsmagazines, Blind Spot should be required reading for journalists and journalism professors who hope to respond not only to technological changes but to cultural ones as well." --World

"This is an instructive book for practitioners. It is written by experienced analysts of religion who want reporters to deepen their knowledge of the subject... Blind Spot should make any religion reporter a more astute student of the journalistic craft." --Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

"A provocative mix of painstaking scholarly analysis with lively samples of news reporting. The writing is cohesive and accessible, engaging and--occasionally--entertaining, and it could prove an effective point of departure for classroom use at undergraduate and graduate student levels."--Religion

About the Author

Paul Marshall is Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. Lela Gilbert is a freelance writer and editor who has authored or co-authored more than sixty published books. Roberta Green Ahmanson is an award-winning journalist and co-author of Islam at the Crossroads.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195374371
• ISBN-13: 978-0195374377
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing questions about religion and journalists, February 1, 2009

By 

Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (Hardcover)

Yes, all research shows journalists are among the most secular of all groups in the US. Even so, why, why do they so often ignore or mangle stories about religion?

Here is a collection of essays investigating the problem.

What is most puzzling about American journalists is not just their tone deafness to stories about religion. They actually seem unaware of religion's importance throughout the world. Explosive growth in Christianity in Africa and Asia is ignored. The vital differences in Muslim sects is rarely mentioned, let alone investigated.

In these essays, Marshall notes that "Americans have been educated to believe that democracy and secularization go hand in hand" (p 22) so that we have misreported, and misunderstood, news about religion that is vital politically.

Hertzke argues that "the mainstream press largely missed one of the great foreign policy and human rights surprises in recent decades" (p 65), that of the banding together of various religious groups to spotlight human rights abuses. And, shocker, the New York Times missed it entirely. It did, however, inform its readers about the activities of the enemy. Oops. I mean the activities of the Christian Coalition.

Vinson and Guth point out how badly all the chattering classes got religion in the 2004 election. "Stories...persistently pitted Bush's blind faith against Kerry's intellectual rationality with a clear assumption that religion and reason do not coexist" (p 91).

Amy Welborn reports on journalists and the Catholics. Every time a pope is mentioned, sure enough, there are those same dissenting Catholics, none of whom has stepped inside a church in decades.

Interesting essays. I just wish there were some good solutions. Thank God for the internet.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research and analysis, February 15, 2009

By 

Kelly R. Moore "Kelly M." (Hickory, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (Paperback)

This book is thorough, accurate, well-researched and actually entertaining. The message is shocking and unfortunate but well in need of being highlighted. Highly recommended to religious and non-religious alike.

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting, February 15, 2011

By 

Pops in Alabama (Florence, AL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (Paperback)

I found this book to be interesting - a topic seldom discussed. I agree with its premise, and I have observed this lack of knowledge by some of the media . . . especially the younger know-it-all correspondents. NPR comes to mind.